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Couples Barbados to participate in the island's "Barbados Island Inclusive" program

Greetings to all:

The Barbados Tourism Authority has launched a campaign called "Barbados Island Inclusive" which essentially gives guests of participating hotels "Free Spending Money" at various attractions and restaurants.

Couples Barbados is one of the participating hotels.

Here are the details:

BOOKING WINDOW
April 29 to June 15, 2013

TRAVEL WINDOW
May 1 to December 21 (travel to be completed on this date). No Blackout periods during the summer.

PACKAGE OFFER

• BTA to offer “Free spending money” for use at participating attractions and restaurants.
• Package is available to anyone booking through the Tour Operator or hotel’s website

• The “per person” funds are based on a maximum of two persons per room.

• Cash vouchers will be made up in batches of $50.00 and will be the equivalent in Barbados Dollars. Persons can pay any differential for full payment to the vendor with their own cash, but no change will be given back on cash vouchers presented.

Thats a great idea! Problem for me is I already booked for early December.Will I have to cancel and rebook to take advantage of this promotion? Also....by Tour Operator do you mean Couples tour operator? or would any travel agent be able to get this deal?

My husband and I booked an eight day trip in February, we are traveling to Barbados in September. Do we qualify for this offer? I would hope so because it would be unfair to not offer it just because we booked earlier than April!

This is such a good idea to promote local businesses!
Randymon - We are staying for 8 nights from Dec.13 - Dec,21, so we're in the travel window and number of nights for $200 pp... However, we booked on April 21. Will we still qualify?

Where can we look to see what restaurants and attractions are covered under this deal? Also, will Couples Barbados offer any complimentary transportation to any of these locations or are we on our own?

We booked on April 26 for travel December 6-13. I contacted our travel agent and was told that we could cancel and rebook but we would loose our deposit. The deposit is more than the offering. I would have to agree with ngwh2009, it does seem a bit unfair. It would be different if the promotion was posted on May 6 and the window was May 6 - June 15, 2013. It would appear that anyone that booked between April 29 - May 6, 2013 would be included without being aware of the promotion and the earlier bookings aren't included. Hopefully Couples will be able to honor some of the earlier bookings with this promotion as well.

This program has been offered by The Barbados Tourism Authority and we have no control whatsoever over their terms and conditions. We only found out about it last week and immediately signed up. Guests who have booked prior to their announcement and terms are not eligible for the vouchers. Unless specifically mentioned, transfers to the participating attractions and restaurants are not included

This program has been offered by The Barbados Tourism Authority and we have no control whatsoever over their terms and conditions. We only found out about it last week and immediately signed up. Guests who have booked prior to their announcement and terms are not eligible for the vouchers. Unless specifically mentioned, transfers to the participating attractions and restaurants are not included

Any reason people can't cancel and rebook through the Couples website?
...unless of course we need to book air AND resort together on the website?

Totally understand that the rules are out of your control. Do you know who we could contact from the BTA?

It's such a good idea, but there's a lot of talk on forums that it wasn't well thought out. A lot of condo goers are unhappy. It seems bad to complain about a good deal, but it does seem unfair to penalize people for booking too EARLY. I started to think about tours and lunches at least off resort for a change of scenery. Too bad. I guess you will be stuck with us staying on the resort now

I am disappointed that for those who have already booked are not eligible. As you can tell there are several of us and we are all loyal to Couples. For the majority of us, we are all in our window to cancel our trips without a loss and rebook our vacations in order to be eligible. For some this may even be an option for them to opt out because of the uncertainty of the resort. I know it is hard to please everyone but I think it would be a great promotion for the Resort if all who have booked through Couples and arrive after the Grand Opening receive the vouchers. It truly is a Win Win for everyone involved.
Thanks You

We also booked on April 26th for 2 weeks in Dec. Sure, we have missed out on this promotion, but as Randy stated it is offered through the Tourism Board - not Couples. It is totally out of Couples' control. Let's not get uptight with Randy and/or Couples. Promotions and incentives are added and changed all the time in our worlds - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

I agree with the other travelers. I also booked my trip on 4/28 (flight and hotel booked via couples.com), ONE DAY before the start of the booking window (4/29-6/22) to be eligible for the "free spending money". I contacted the Barbados Tourism Authority regarding this and there is nothing they can do to still grant us the vouchers.

I called Couples directly and they told me I cannot rebook the trip to qualify for the program. Why not?

This is my first time in Barbados and first time staying with Couples... I am already having a negative experience through all of this even before I go on my trip. =(

I think Jenny may be right in that you have to book either directly with Couples or with the BTA. I contacted the travel agency that I booked with and was told that offer wasn't available through them. I could cancel and rebook through Couples but I"d lose the $200 I paid for travel insurance and price is $100 more than I originally paid so I"m just going to stick with my booking.
Would have been nice since we definitely plan on spending some time exploring Barbados but... guess sometimes booking too early doesn't pay. Still got a great deal!